Product Description

In Wrecked: When a Broken World Slams Into Your Comfortable Life, author Jeff Goins shares his own experience of struggling as a missionary and 20-something who understands the call to live radically while dealing with the everyday responsibilities of life. Wrecked is a manifesto for a generation dissatisfied with the status quo and wanting to make a difference.

Publisher's Description

What happens when a broken world slams into your comfortable life?

Wrecked is about the life we are afraid to live. It's about radical sacrifice and selfless service--how we find purpose in the midst of pain. It's a look at how we discover fulfillment in the least likely of places. It's about living like we mean it. It's a guide to growing up and giving your life away, helping you live in the tension between the next adventure and the daily mundane.

This book is for us--a generation intent on pursuing our life's work in a way that leaves us without regrets.

Author Jeff Goins shares his own experience of struggling as a missionary and 20-something who understands the call to live radically while dealing with the everyday responsibilities of life. Wrecked is a manifesto for a generation dissatisfied with the status quo and wanting to make a difference.

Author Bio

JEFF GOINS was born and raised outside of Chicago. After graduating from Illinois College, he spent a year on the road with a band and was once recognized on the streets of Taipei. An author, speaker, and writing coach, Jeff's work has been featured on some of the largest blogs in the world. He lives in Franklin, TN with his family. You can find him online at:www.goinswriter.com.

If you want to live a life that brings change - feeds the hungry, knocks down prejudices, wins souls for Christ you can't stay aloof in a bubble from what's going on around you. Being stretched is not comfortable, suffering is not fun but without pain there's no true joy either.

True compassion is not easy, but heartbreaking and uncomfortable. Living generously means giving up your own desires and comforts for the sake of others.

It's not about looking for thrills. Sometimes the thing you are called to do could be called mundane or tedious, not exciting but that's part of laying down your rights and wants and digging in and getting to work.

This is not a big book but it's taken me a while to read it because you read some, then put it down for a while and chew on it, then pick it up and do it all over again. I love his writing style, it's easy to read and understand, and I haven't been bored at any point. It's not that the writing is heavy, but the material makes me pause to think.

As I listened to this audiobook version of Wrecked, I had the privilege of hearing the author, Jeff Goins, himself tell me what it means to be wrecked.

I cannot relay to you with the accuracy and passion of Goins what it means to be wrecked, but what I can say is that I think I live in a state of near-wrecked-ness. (Yes, I made that term up.)

To be wrecked, per Goins, is to be so impacted by the need and helplessness of others less fortunate than yourself that you cannot live without thinking of them and tangibly doing for them, with them, and giving to them. And actually, that is truly just a tiny glimpse of what it means to be wrecked. You should listen to Goins describe it to you as I had the pleasure of doing.

In listening to this book, I found myself identifying with the outer edges of the wrecked state, but not yet having been fully affected---not yet fully wrecked. This is why I say I live in a state of near-wrecked-ness.

Now, just a few minutes ago I just finished watching a movie portraying the real-life "Machine Gun Preacher," Sam Childers. I would definitely say that man was wrecked! He went on one trip to Sudan to help repair huts damaged in the Second Sudanese War. During that trip he was wrecked for the children of Sudan and Uganda who were being abducted by the Joseph Kony's "Lord's Resistance Army." His life and mission since then has been and continues to be to help those children tangibly in any way he can---and he does. He is wrecked.

As far as this audiobook from ChristianAudio goes, I highly recommend it. It was especially beneficial to hear it read by the author, as he was able to instill his own passion and intent into each word he wrote as he read it aloud. One drawback of audiobooks is that I am unable to easily quote from them for you since I typically listen to them during my commutes to and from work (which is actually one of the things I love most about audiobooks). So, it's a bit of give and take, but most definitely a rewarding experience.

Disclaimer: I received this audiobook for free from christianaudio.com. No other compensation was received. The fact that I received a complimentary product does not guarantee a favorable review.

I listened to this as an audio book read by the author himself, and am I ever thankful for that pause feature on my mp3 player! Every few minutes, I found myself pausing to take notes or to process what I'd just heard. I am sure I'll be wading through some of those ideas for a long time.

The book starts by outlining the status quo--the person loving life in his safe little world, content to watch other people have adventures on reality TV and keep a nice distance by spending most of his free time on the couch. But occasionally something happens that rocks his world. Maybe he has an encounter with someone much less fortunate, or he goes on a short-term missions trip. How does this person work through what's happened to him and let it help shape his future?

Jeff Goins issues the challenge of stepping into those opportunities, recognizing the impact they can have on our lives, and then figuring out how to put into perspective these paradigm shifts. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this book doesn't advocate running off and doing abnormal things just for the sake of the adventure. Instead, the author encourages us to use these experiences to teach us that life isn't all about ME.

I was particularly encouraged by the section that explained why reaching out to meet a need often hurts us more than it gives us that warm fuzzy feeling, because it causes us to recognize how small we are and how broken the world is.

I'm particularly interested in the implications he makes for young adults, who are typically on a quest to find themselves. Goins recommends that instead of looking at the world as it revolves around me, find a need that calls to my heart and determine what I can do to help meet it.

So many people came to mind as I worked my way through these chapters. I will be recommending this to older teens and twenty-somethings, as well as to anyone coming on short-term mission trips. This book would be a great debriefing tool for mission teams, especially for those people who don't know what to do with the reality-check they've just been exposed to. And I'd definitely recommend it to other long-term missionaries, as it's a nice tool for examining our motives and our vision.

If you want to be wrecked, of if you have been and you don't know where to go from here, get your hands on this book.

Jeff Goins' book "Wrecked: When a Broken World Slams into your Comfortable Life" is page after page of thought-provoking illustrations of a life in pursuit of purpose. A life well lived is not found in the comfort of your everyday life. It's found in the moments that blindside you. When you're willing to do the unthinkable and try something new. It requires purpose and intentionality. "Wrecked" will open your eyes to a new way of living that will blow your mind. I would caution readers that this is not a haphazard read. "Wrecked" will tug your heart strings and challenge you to live life for more than yourself. I highly recommend this book without reservation as a call to selfless living.

Note: I received an advanced copy of "Wrecked" for the purpose of writing a review.

Simple things are often the most profound, and this little book is no exception. With story-telling ability of Andy Andrews, and each tale couched in unswerving honesty and humility, Goins has penned a remarkable resource.

I found myself saying, "Yes! Yes!" chapter after chapter, and writing down memorable quotes to share. Wrecked is phenomenally moving and affirming.

A personal-journey handbook to a deep maturity that walks the talk, Wrecked should have a place on the shelf of every person desiring to truly live their faith as well as every discipler, apprenticship/life-counselor, missionary and short-term mission candidate.

Wrecked will be my gift of choice to the leaders in my life, that they may also be profoundly wrecked, and in turn, have an opportunity to share this potential classic with others seeking a deeply satisfying life-experience.